The Cherie Blair Foundation for Women had it's best ever result last year
raising £2,171,590 in total.

After having to cope with her husband being so publicly praised for his “butt” by Rupert Murdoch’s former wife Wendi Deng, Cherie Blair can take consolation in the fact that she is beating him hands down on the charity front.

Mandrake can disclose that the Cherie Blair Foundation for Women raised £2,171,590 last year – its best ever result. The latest figures from the charity also show, however, that staff salaries are up sharply. The Foundation spent £596,924 on staff in 2013, compared with £436,743 in 2012. Still, staff numbers are also up: around 15 staff are listed as being employed in 2013, compared to 11 the previous year.

The charity was established by the former prime minister’s wife in 2007 and since then it has raised £7.7 million. The yearly totals raised have exceeded those of her husband’s charity, The Tony Blair Faith Foundation, for the last two years.

“It is becoming a force to be reckoned with in the charity world,” says one seasoned observer of the sector. Earlier this year, it received a £1 million grant, spread over two years, from Accenture, the consulting firm, to run a programme in Rwanda for 15,000 women to receive business training.

Mrs Blair, who turns 60 later this year, operates the charity from the top floor of an anonymous-looking office block overlooking Hyde Park. It also serves as the headquarters of her law firm, Omnia Strategy, of which she is chairman. It has opened an office in Washington DC.